Filtering - Lane Splitting

[alans1100]

I've filtered sometimes when I used to work in suburban Adelaide but since I've had the 1100 I haven't done it. Most trips I take to the city now I'm towing the trailer (combine shopping and pleasure on one trip) so that puts filtering out anyway.

 

[Malcolm6112]

I had the chance to visit the Rehab centre at Shenton Park in Perth.
There were a lot of motorcycle injuries in there. Lots were people doing dumb things on small bikes with next to nothing in the way of PPE.
Then there we those who where riding big bikes with all the gear which came into contact with other vehicles. Rehab takes a long time. The lucky ones die on the road. It is a real eye opener to see people trying to get limbs working again.
 

[alphafang]

The lucky ones die on the road.   WHAT?   you being serious Malcolm.

[BigTed]

The lucky ones die on the road.   WHAT?   you being serious Malcolm.

Depending on the extent of the injury - I think I agree with Malcolm... not that you'd probably know, but I don't think being a vegetable would be much fun.

The last 14 months of my experience on the ST1300 (after a 12 year gap) tells me that even with my adjusted riding style (more safe I hope) I'm actually more likely to be hit by another motorcycle who's splitting lanes at speeds far-far greater than me or anyone else on the road (as in 30-40km/h faster)... those buggers appear out of nowhere in car mirrors - they don't even get seen at all in motorcycle mirrors.

Interestingly too, when I was first "splitting lanes" in Perth in the early 90s, I used to call it "riding the angel lane".... for good reason me thinks.

[terrydj]

????????????????????? Whats all this crap about accidents.
Give me a break. You ride a motorcycle. Want to be safe, just give up riding. Bloody simple. Open your eyes and have a look around.

Every car on the road wants to kill you, every bike you ride wants to kill you.

You have all these ahhhh mature age riders who haven't ridden for years jumping on bikes with at least twice the horsepower of what they used to ride, if they really ever did, and the majority of riders who die on the roads are them.
You have all these young guys that jump onto 300kph bikes that are so easy to ride a 6 year old can do it. I mean they have great brakes, great everything, an idiot can lean em over and put a knee down and still be safe, but when it all goes wrong??
Ahhhh I have full leathers that will protect me when I come off. Nahhhhhhh "DI*****D" the pros were full armor under their suits and a thousand years of experience. That's why they get up and walk away.

If you want to be safe, stay at home. But then again heaps of people die a year getting out of the shower/bath, slipping on a mat, changing a light bulb.

Me I've crashed at over 200 due to a flat in the front tyre (Some ULYSSES expert I got the bike off put a tube in it). Tubes deflate straight away where tubeless lose air slowly
Crashed on a roundabout after some DOOF DOOF fools dropped oil on it so they could drift and third being hit by a truck that did a U turn in front of me??????? All up two trips in an ambulance

I ride 6 out of seven and everyday I ride I come real close to being killed.
You want to stay safe, either stay home or do what you have to to stay safe and if it means breaking the rules, "Break em"

[BigTed]

..."DI*****D"...

terrydj, can I ask who this was directed to?

You talk of "mature age" and "these young guys"..., just for context, which bracket do you fall into? Your profile doesn't mention it.

[alphafang]

As I read Terrys post I would say he's referring to the guy in all the gear who thinks that's going to save his hide.
I'm 54 and still don't know if that makes me a mature or young rider all depends on the day.......

[Sabie]

Alpha, at 54, i'd say your a mature rider. Attitude and approach is the key here.

[Sabie]

 Try and justify lane filtering if you want but it is dangerous, it does aggravate motorists. All you need to do is Leave plenty or room in front between you and the car in front, watch your mirrors for the cars behind you, be patient. Ride passively not aggressively. Make sure you can be seen and have been seen.

Your injury or death will effect other people such as loved ones, rescue and medical people.

[Whizz]

Sabie, not to put too much of a damper on things, the topic is "Lane Splitting", which I think everyone will agree means going up between stopped or very slow cars to get to the front of the queue. So if anyone's got his helmet stuck in the front of a truck going at 100KPH then someone is doing something both stupid and reckless, and it sure as s**t wouldn't be classed as "Lane Splitting".

I see nothing wrong in going between cars that are not going anywhere, especially if there is traffic jam, so as to get the front. As long as there is sufficient room to get the bars through without causing any damage to the cars, or my bike, I don't see the problem, but the caveat is the speed of the cars either side of you.

[terrydj]

Gentleman and others I'm 55 and have ridden 6 days out of 7 since 1974 licensed on the road and for 8 years before that.
Ahhhh now for the mature age. The facts say that its everyone over 35 and the Bike related deaths stats say the same.
Was a member of the ULYSSES for a whole 4 months and near everyone their said that they had ridden on the road before they got married but sold the bike when they got married and now after how many years they were back on one????????
Funny thing is me and everyone I knew at the time needed their bike for work as like most only had one car?
Yeap met a heap of experts then I did.
As most will know, if you rode a bike in the 60's and 70's and the 80's you knew everyone in your town or area who rode, and in all honesty their were bugger all Motorcycle riders so I have no idea where all these once owned a bike riders were. I mean when I rode on the Gold Coast in the early 70's the only bikes I would see is maybe on a Sunday outside the Bird Watchers Bar in Surfers but apparently their were heaps of riders on the Gold Coast????
Hmmm my bike and a couple of mates from the army were the only bikes ever outside the Canungra Cafe and now their are hundreds in the street???
So That's What I Know

And yeah the young young guys all in leather with the RI and all the gear. As anyone who has ridden a late model performance motorcycle will tell you (I owned a Blackbird) they are just so easy to ride, and anyone can ride them to the Max. Trouble is when it all goes wrong you need the experience and the skills to help you.
Trouble with the new performance bikes is that they are just too easy to ride.
In the old days riding bikes with no brakes, poor tyres, suspect handling and the rest gave you the skills for when things went wrong but now with everything so perfect those skills may or can never be learned????

[alans1100]

Sabie, not to put too much of a damper on things, the topic is "Lane Splitting", which I think everyone will agree means going up between stopped or very slow cars to get to the front of the queue. So if anyone's got his helmet stuck in the front of a truck going at 100KPH then someone is doing something both stupid and reckless, and it sure as s**t wouldn't be classed as "Lane Splitting".

I see nothing wrong in going between cars that are not going anywhere, especially if there is traffic jam, so as to get the front. As long as there is sufficient room to get the bars through without causing any damage to the cars, or my bike, I don't see the problem, but the caveat is the speed of the cars either side of you.

There seems to be a lot of confusion understanding the differences between lane splitting ((sharing) this is illegal) and filtering. Both are similar but are also very different to each other.

In it's simplest form "Filtering" is riding between stationary vehicles and "Splitting" is done between moving vehicles.

From what I can work out in SA there is no actual law forbiding filtering but it is tolerated providing it's done safely. I can legally pass a car on the right if I'm in the same lane as the car. I can legally pass a stationary car on it's left. If I need to change lanes while filtering I must indicate. And I'm not allowed to cross a continuous lane line either.

That's my understanding of what I read, someone else may see it differently.

[BigTed]

Even wikipedia (that very reliable source of information) has an interesting article on the whys and why nots, filtering vs. splitting, and the history in California. VicRoads cracks a mention too. There seems to be lots of research, but overall it seems a little out-dated and somewhat inconclusive... unless you focus on just 1 or 2 of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_splitting

So, do or don't do, but the probability of a ticket in Australia is guaranteed to be non-zero. 

[Streak]

i think there is a very simple solution to this entire thread....

We shall all agree to disagree....do you not agree....

[Whizz]

Yes Dad!

 

[terrydj]

i think there is a very simple solution to this entire thread....
We shall all agree to disagree....do you not agree....

Ahhhh and very well said.
But please ride to survive. Who cares what people say. If you think it is right, that's all important.
I mean I put both feet on the ground at lights or when stopped and the experts at QRide say I am wrong, so I guess that means I'm not an expert.
So please disregard everything I have said.

[alans1100]

i think there is a very simple solution to this entire thread....

We shall all agree to disagree....do you not agree....

Of course

 I mean I put both feet on the ground at lights or when stopped and the experts at QRide say I am wrong

You are not alone in doing that especially when riding two-up.

[STeveo]

Me too. If doing something illegal means that I survive and live to ride another day, then so be it.

 

[alphafang]

Wish someone had told me that there was a difference between lane splitting and filtering earlier....it would have saved me a lot of typing.... 
I agree to disagree of course that's what makes us human after all.
As to doing illegal things to survive. I'm 100% with STeveo on that. I'm pretty certain that the additional lighting on my St is illegal as far as the road traffic act goes, but it's obvious to anyone and everyone that it's there in an attempt to get me seen and therefore make me more safe. Never had a problem with the bobbies because of that.

[Sabie]

Hey Alpha

There's a guy in a Kenworth wants his bullbar and lights back....

[Gavo]

In it's simplest form "Filtering" is riding between stationary vehicles and "Splitting" is done between moving vehicles.

[/quote]

Ahh i learn something new 

[Aj1300]

I do the filtering, not the splitting, when the traffic isn't going anywhere, I crawl through as long as I can fit. Splitting ,I think you are pushing your luck. You don't know what the drivers are going to do.

[alphafang]

I just reread the original post in this thread. I think the problem with the thread starts within the first few lines.

A few years back I emailed the then "Queensland Transport" regarding filtering.  For my own curiosity I wanted to know what laws were being broken, so I may talk my way out of a fine

Thought I'd post the reply as I found it interesting.
*QUOTE*
16 November 2007

Thank you for your email below about lane-splitting by motorbikes.

So we can all lay the blame at the feet of the Queensland Transport spokesman who it seems didn't know the difference either.
 

[terrydj]

Yeah and we can lay the Blame on the Queensland Police Force for not sending you a decent size Photo of your bike when your caught speeding so you can put it on the wall
The photo trust me are really good

[alans1100]

Saw this on Net Rider today

http://www.news.com.au/national/on-your-bike-motorbike-riders-may-be-allowed-to-ride-in-gap-between-cars/story-fndo4eg9-1226476525422?fb_action_ids=362000443874357&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%22362000443874357%22%3A278174512298552%7D&action_type_map=%7B%22362000443874357%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=[]

by By Malcolm Farr National Political Editor From:
news.com.au September 18, 2012
1:24PM

Quote :-

LANE splitting, in which of motorcyclists ride down the gap between lines of stalled traffic, could be legalised and even encouraged to help reduce congestion.
It annoys some motorists and in limited circumstances could be dangerous. But federal MPs in Canberra today were told it was an option that had to be considered.

And Victoria is close to permitting the practice, also known as "filtering".

Shaun Lennard, chairman of the Australian Motorcycle Council and chair the federal Motorcycle Safety Consultative Committee, said laws had to be changed to encourage more users of PTWs - powered two wheels.

"One initiative currently under consideration in Victoria is a trial of legalised filtering - that is, riding between stationery or very slow-moving lines of traffic," Mr Lennard said in a speech to MPs at a Canberra breakfast.


"This is a common practice in the majority of major cities, yet in most cases it is technically illegal.

"It's largely overlooked by police, and it's something that has worked for decades and makes sense. Some European countries have been looking at legitimising filtering."

Mr Lennard said London and Paris were making it easier for cyclists and motorcyclists to use the cities' roads, and that European research had shown traffic congestion could be eased by increasing PTW numbers.

But in Australia, "Last year we had the National Transport Commission release a detailed report on the future of transport in Australia, with all sorts of data and graphs showing changes and trends - a report which failed to make any reference to motorcycling.

"This despite the fact that the number of registered motorcycles had grown by 7 per cent per year for the previous decade."

A Belgian study last year looked at morning peak traffic on a major highway between a satellite city, Leuven, and Brussels.

Detailed modelling calculated that if 10 per cent of the car users had instead been on motorcycles, congestion would have been reduced by around 40 per cent - a major saving for all road users.

Mr Lennard said most Australian governments had not looked at similar policies despite a huge growth in the number of people - particularly women - now regularly riding motorbikes and scooters.

He said there had been "a dramatic increase in the number of motorcycles and scooters on the roads" in the past decade.

"In Australia, the number of registered motorcycles has almost doubled over the past 11 years to around 700,000. That's an annual increase of almost 7 per cent, which compares to an average annual increase in registrations across all vehicle types of around 3 per cent over the same period," said Mr Lennard.

"Over the past decade, there have been two key demographic areas where the number of riders has increased dramatically - firstly the number of female riders, and secondly in the number of people aged over 50 (both male and female).

"As many of the males over 50 years of age buying motorcycles are people who had ridden in their twenties, the tag returning riders is often applied collectively to this demographic.

"However a substantial number of male riders over 50 and almost all of the women riders are in fact new to motorcycling.

"Women have increasingly turned to motorcycling for both commuting and leisure purposes. It's been anecdotally reported that many women feel safer travelling to and from work by motorcycle than using public transport - literally riding to and from their own residence to the parking area of their place of employment.

"The average age of a learner motorcyclist across is Australia, from the last data I had a year or so ago, was 32.

"Scooter sales in Australia have been an area of significant growth. This has gone from around 600 new scooters a year in the 1990s, to a peak of over 15,000 new scooters three or four years ago, that has levelled now at still over 10,000 new scooters per year."